Reprise Review: Yucatan Dead by DV Berkom

 

Genre: Thriller

Description:

“She was a dangerous man's lover…now she's his dangerous enemy.

For Kate Jones, being on the run from her former lover—the vicious leader of a Mexican drug cartel—was never going to be easy. But with a new identity, a new lover, and a new life in northern Arizona, she was beginning to believe she'd made it through the worst.

Then, in an act of twisted revenge, Kate's kidnapped and imprisoned by her deadly enemy, his intention to force her to pay back the money she stole before he kills her.”

Author:

“The author of two bestselling thriller series featuring strong female protagonists, Berkom grew up on a steady diet of spy novels, James Bond movies and mysteries. Her natural inclination is to keep the reader on the edge of their seat and guessing until the last page.

Raised in the Midwest, she received her BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota and promptly moved to Mexico to live on a sailboat. Several years and at least a dozen moves later, she now lives outside of Seattle, Washington with her sweetheart Mark, an ex-chef-turned-contractor, and writes whenever she gets a chance.”

For more, visit her website.

Appraisal:

I enjoy books with kick-ass female protagonists and Kate Jones fits the bill perfectly. When the going gets tough, she keeps going. Yucatan Dead ratchets up the tension from the start as Kate deals with hit women, warring Mexican drug cartels, and unofficial paramilitary organizations. Survival is never a given.

However, what stuck out for me, even more than Kate’s kick-assed-ness (yeah, sometimes I make up words, I wonder if this will get past Amazon’s censors) is the sense of humor, often in the descriptions. I found myself laughing, even as I was on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. This isn’t typical of a thriller and I’m not sure many authors could pull it off, but Berkom does. One example was explaining that “Kidnappers R Us wasn't known for their customer service.” Another was this description which was just over the top enough to get a chuckle from me:

A rusty metal bunk squatted against the right side of the tent, its sheet stretched tight across the top and tucked under the mattress with precision. Try bouncing a quarter off of that and it'd end up embedded in the roof.

A fun read and, for those just hearing about the Kate Jones Thriller Series, one with a healthy backlist to keep you in reading material for a while.

Buy now from:    Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and mild adult content.

Although the sixth book of the Kate Jones Thriller Series, what back story was needed to understand Kate and the story was included, so I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. Reading this as a standalone isn’t a problem.

Added for Reprise Review: Yucatan Dead by DV Berkom was a nominee in the Thriller category for B&P 2014 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran September 6, 2013.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words